Sırrı Süreyya Önder, a member of the Imrali Delegation of the Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) and Deputy Speaker of Parliament, who was hospitalized on the night of 15 April following a cardiac arrest, remains in intensive care.

In a new statement on Monday, Prof. Dr. Çavlan Çiftçi of Florence Nightingale Hospital said that Sırrı Süreyya Önder remains in a highly life-threatening condition.

Çiftçi stated that the right side of Önder's heart started to contract markedly but did not regain its full rhythm: “Our patient is still unconscious and his reflexes are not at the desired level. The cerebral blood flow is good, but other neurological assessments continue. In this respect, when we look at our patient neurologically, it seriously worries us. Our patient is at extremely high risk. Therefore, we seriously need time." Çiftçi added that the duration of sleep may change according to Önder’s development.

Cardiovascular surgeon Prof. Dr. Ertan Sağbaş stated: “At first, the right side of the heart almost never contracted, so we gave device support. It was a surprise for us that the right-side beat. This was actually good news. It shows that the heart is slowly opening, that we are on the right track. But we will still wait, and the device support will continue. We are reducing medication to support the heart. Right now, he has achieved good stability. His internal organs are fine, the kidney is fine, the liver is fine. But we still have a long way to go.”

Sağbaş continued: “His neurological condition remains uncertain. It's not possible to tell anything clearly yet because we can't do imaging. In the imaging we were able to perform, we saw blood flow. But without imaging, it's all a mystery. We are planning to do an imaging, but it is not clear yet when we will do it. We have closed the chest, there is no bleeding. There is no re-operation. There is no rupture, no bleeding. His bypass is working, there is no infection. It is not possible to establish a date when he will stand up. We are going with instant follow-ups. Therefore, we can only make daily statements.”

According to the hospital, Önder’s chest was reopened by cardiac surgeons on April 19 with a planned revision to reassess his condition. The surgical area was clean, with no signs of infection or bleeding, the hospital stated. “Most importantly, we observed that the right side of the heart, which showed little to no contraction during the first operation, has now begun to contract visibly though not completely."

The statement noted that a pulse trace is now visible on bedside monitors and Önder’s hemodynamics are stable. However, he continues to receive support from an ECMO device, used for heart and lung assistance, and medication to support heart function.